Northeast Still Struggling After Floods

John Swick works to clean his fathers Friday, June 30, 2006, along the Delaware River in the Hutchinson section of Harmony Township, in Warren County, NJ. The muddy floodwater swirling through riverside towns across the Northeast was receding Friday, and residents began the arduous tasks of clearing away debris left by five days of heavy rain and trying to tally the cost of the flood. (AP Photo/Steve Klaver) (Steve Klaver - AP)

More than 200 people spent Saturday night in shelters across upstate New York, and uncounted others were still in hotels, motels and the homes of friends and relatives waiting for inspectors to give them permission to return home.

"It's been so hectic here. We're all kind of just running round for a report on how things are," said Des Lambe, owner of the Reynolds House Inn in Roscoe, N.Y. He said he had two evacuee families scheduled to stay with him for the next week.

Others had been able to return and start cleaning up.

"It looks like people are shoveling snow, but it's mud," said Darcy Fauci, a spokeswoman for Broome County, N.Y. "Businesses are putting all their stuff in parking lots trying to dry it off."

"It smells," she added.

The federal government had declared eight New York counties disaster areas. One, Chenango, gave an early estimate of $32 million damage to infrastructure alone. Five other counties hoped to be added to the declaration.

New Jersey was still awaiting word on federal disaster aid Sunday. Federal Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman Jennie Raab said Gov. Jon S. Corzine's request had been received, but FEMA and state officials were still assessing damage.

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Associated Press Writer Chris Newmarker in Trenton, N.J., contributed to this report.

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